Instant sari



Nov. 18, 1969 T. vATTl INSTANT SART Filed June 7, 1968 FIG. Q

FIG. 3

INVENTOR.

THAMMAYYA VATT/ @wwf-RQ CC 9mm can? United States Patent 3,478,367 INSTANT SARI Thammayya Vatti, 3855 Orloff Ave., Bronx, N.Y. 10463 Filed June 7, 1968, Ser. No. 735,208 Int. Cl. A41d 1/14 U.S. Cl. 2-76 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tailored garment formed from a single piece of fabric to simulate a sari used in India by providing a tubular sheath corresponding to the skirt portion with the waist having an elongated band secured to the waist portion and providing for increasing the diameter by the provision of a slit and having a free end of the elongated band with fasteners cooperating with other fasteners in'an overlapping area of the waist and the other end of the piece of cloth being free to be thrown over the shoulder of the wearer.

Western women have not accepted the sari fashion because a sariras worn by the women of India consists of a single strip or piece of cloth which is wrapped around the body approximately one and one-half times with accurate pleats being folded in and the waist portion tucked back under the overlapping layer which requires substantial skill to properly arrange the pleats and and the Western women felt that there was uncertainty as to whether the sari would stay in place.

Although tailored garments have been accepted in many cultures, there has not been a satisfactory tailored garment to correspond with the sari and accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a garment which closely resembles a sari as worn by the natives of India.

A further object is to provide a waist band structure which provides for ease of applying and removing a garment while assuring that the garment will stay in place during normal activities.

A further object is to provide a garment which will lit persons of varying sizes to reduce the inventories of merchants.

Briey, the garment provides a sheath to encircle the body from the waist down, having a waist bafnd of an elongated elastic material, secured to the waist band portion of the garment on the inner periphery thereof with a free end of the -band adapted to overlap a portion of the waist band, with fastening means on the free end of the elastic band and on the cooperating waist band portion; while a slit is provided opening to the waist at the points where the free end portion of the elongated elastic band becomes free from the garment so that the waist portion can be extended or stretched for application and removal of the garment over the head or over the feet and legs with sufficient fullness being provided in the waist band portion of the garment to provide for accu'rately fitting the wide variation of sizes of persons.

Referring to the drawing:

FIGURE 1 shows the completed garment in perspective with the tubular sheath or skirt portion in the position to be worn and showing the free end of the cloth to be wrapped over the lback and the left shoulder;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the waist portion showing the position of the elastic band and the fastening hooks and eyes; f

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary section taken substantially on line 3-3 of FIGURE 2, showing how the pleats are formed at the front of the dress;

FIGURE 4 shows how fullness is obtained in the back portion of the tubular sheath;

3,478,367 Patented Nov. 18, 1969 rice FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary section on line 5-5 of FIGURE 2 showing the rolled-over front top edge of the waist band cooperating with the free end of the elastic band and secured by the hook and eye fasteners;

FIGURE 6 shows the upper edge of the garment folded back on itself to reduce the height; and

FIGURE 7 illustrates the intermediate step of making the front pleated upper edge of the garment.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, a strip piece of cloth 10 of the conventional size used for saris of approxi-mately six yards in length and forty-six inches wide has one end 11 connected to one strip 12 of a slide fastener by the usual stitching. The adjacent portion of the piece of cloth is wrapped into a tube or sheath and at a point approximately forty inches from the end 11, a slit is cut in the upper edge of the piece of cloth and the strip 12 of the zipper is secured to one edge of the slit and the cooperating strip 13 of the zipper is secured to the other edge of the slit, so that the slide 14 of the zipper provides for increasing the circumference of the upper edge of the tubular sheath for convenience in dressing and undressing. An elongated band 15 of elastic web of the type used for waist bands is secured to the inner periphery of the tubular sheath by suitable stitching 16 extending across the band and such tubular sheath is extended to its full circumference of approximately forty inches and stitched to the elastic band 15 when the elastic band is in stretched condition, whereby when the elastic band returns to its unstretched condition, the top of the tubular sheath will be approximately 24 to 26 inches, and therefore adaptable to the smallest waist size. The elastic tape 15 has its one end 17 unattached to the tubular sheath while the stitching 16 secures the remainder of the elastic band to the tubular sheath to a point closely adjacent the strip 13 of the slide fastener with the last row of stitching 16A whereby when the zipper is opened, the waist band portion of the tubular sheath may be extended to a sufficient extent so that such waist band portion may pass over the head and shoulders or over the hips of the wearer to permit ease of applying or removing the garment.

An intermediate portion of the strip of material 10 is pleated in conventional pleats 18 of Z-coniiguration and permanently sewed to the front portion o-f the elastic band extending from theend 11 adjacent the strip 12 of the zipper by conventional stitching 19, thereby permanently affixing the pleats in the front portion of the garment and such pleats continue to the desired extent terminating with the last pleat 18E and the remaining portion of the strip 10 remains entirely unattached to the tubular sheath and such portion 20 is adapted to be wrapped around the back of the wearer under both arms and then over the shoulder above the end pleat 18E and worn in the manner of the conventional sari.

The waist portion above the pleats 18E is folded over on itself along a top fold line 21 and secured together by suitable stitching, passing through the elastic web 15 which is also doubled on itself and also passing through the double thickness of the pleated upper edge of the front of the garment, with suitable additional stitching being provided to maintain the parts together.

To provide a neat appearance on the inner side of the inturned pleated portion-of the waist band, a lining 21A is secured to the inner periphery of the waistband covering the inturned pleated edge portion. Suitable stitching 21B passes through the inturned pleated edge portion and the upper edge of the lining 21A and additional stitching 21C passes through the lower edge of the lining and the pleated portion.

Hooks 22, 22A, 22B are provided in two rows along the free end portion of the elastic band 15 and such hooks cooperate with corresponding two rows `of eyes 23, 23A,

23B, 23C secured to the lining 21A. The spacing of the hooks is made closer together than the spacing between the eyes so that in donning the garment the hooks 22 may be engaged with the appropriate eye 23 which for small size waists would be the eye 23 and for larger size waists would be adjusted to a more loose tit in one of the other eyes 23A to 23C, however, it is understood that the number of eyes in each row can be increased to any suitable number. However, it is not necessary to have the same number of hooks 22 on the free end 17 of the band 15 since the hooks can be adjusted and part of the strain placed on each hook, thereby preventing excessive local strain and excessive pressure in any one position along the elastic band. It will also be evident that the back portion of the waist of the garment can be extended by stretching of the elastic band 15 which is permitted by the puckering between the lines of stitching 16 to additionally simplify the donning and doling of the garment.

From the above description, it will be apparent that applicant has provided a new and useful garment made from a single strip of cloth which garment is adaptable and adjustable for different sizes of persons, thereby greatly reducing the cost of manufacture and also reducing the cost of inventories requiring different sizes for different people.

The invention also overcomes the aversion of Western women to wearing the sari in the manner of the women of India since the present invention assures that the waist will always be maintained in its correct position and there is no danger of the pleats coming loose and there is no danger of the garment falling off the wearer.

An adjustment for different heights of persons may be accomplished by rolling the waist band portion of the tubular sheath inwardly on itself in the manner shown in FIGURE 5 by continuing to fold the material over on itself as shown in FIGURE 6 and such folding over of the material may be continued in the necessary number of folds to accomplish the desired vertical adjustment.

What is claimed is:

1. An easily donned sari comprising an elongated strip of material of substantial width to extend from the waist to the feet of the wearer and of extended length of approximately six yards, a waist band, means to adjust the circumference of the waist band to accommodate waists of varying sizes, one end of the strip of cloth being secured to the waist band substantially at one side of the wearer with one long edge adjacent said one end being attached to waist band for substantially one complete turn and overlapping the front of the wearer, said overlapping portion being permanently attached to the waist band along said front and including large pleats therein, and the remainder of the strip of cloth being unattached and of suflicient length to be wrapped upwardly around the back and front of the person and over the shoulder with sucient excess to again extend around the back and front and lay over the arm, whereby said sari can be easily donned over the head or over the feet of the wearer and is adaptable to the size of a wearer.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which a slit is provided in the said one long edge of the material adjacent the place of attachment of the said one end of the strip of cloth.

3. The invention according to claim 2 in which means are provided to detachably secure the edges of the slit together.

4. The invention according to claim 1 in which the waist band is elastic and the said one long edge of the cloth is gathered to provide fullness throughout the other edge of the cloth and the tubular sheath formed thereby.

5. The invention according to claim 4 wherein the waist band includes an elastic band which has a free end extending from adjacent the place of attachment of the said one end of the strip of cloth across the front of the wearer and means are provided to detachably secure the said free end to the waist band adjacent the front of the wearer.

6. The invention according to claim 5 in which the means to secure the free end of the waist band to the front portion of the waist band are hooks and cooperative eyes.

7. The invention according to claim 6 in which the hooks are on the free end of the band and are more closely positioned along the length of the band than the eyes on the front portion of the garment waist band.

8. The invention according to claim 3 in which the means to detachably secure the slit together is a zipper slide fastener.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 850,264 4/ 1907 Sorensen 2221 1,114,954 10/1914 Zavodnik 2-76 1,371,307 3/1921 Hertz et al. 2-211 1,797,714 3/1931 Cameron 2-74 2,051,444 8/1936 Haister 2-76 2,078,874 4/1937 Friedman 2-2l8 XR '2,514,613 7/ 1950 Thurston 2-211 2,642,575 6/l953 Prescott 2--221 2,717,390 9/ 1955 Houze 2-74 FOREIGN PATENTS 946,687 12/1948 France.

H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 2-221 

